"Hey, I never noticed that before...." (TNG edition)

We already have one of these for TOS, but I thought it might be fun to start up a similar thread for TNG. Things you'd never noticed until a recent rewatch, despite them being there all the time.

Here's three I noticed for the first time when I recently rewatched season one on Blu Ray:

- In the pilot episode "Encounter At Farpoint", Picard actually suggests that Q use their upcoming mission (ie, the whole thing) as an ongoing trial by which Q can judge their actions. Q doesn't dismiss the idea, he simply refocuses the conversation on Farpoint alone. But in "All Good Things...", we do discover that he took Picard's suggestion to heart, and the 7 year mission was an ongoing trial.

- The Romulan disturbance in "Angel One". For many years I thought this was some kind of continuity error, as there's some considerable separation between all the talk here about possible Romulan attacks on Federation outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone and the Enterprise racing off for a confrontation with Romulans by episode's end, and the resolution of that story in the season-ending "The Neutral Zone", where we are told this was the first contact with Romulans in decades. But on my recent rewatch, I realized that all the talk is about the attacks, and the possibility of it being the Romulans, not necessarily that the Enterprise was actually going to face off with them. It seems likely that they went off to investigate the attacked outposts but did not find any Romulans at all, which makes it consistent with the season-ender. (It does, however, potentially leave Picard's remark in the later "Heart of Glory" a continuity error, where he claims they haven't heard of the Romulans in a very long time.)

- In "Coming of Age", Riker's anxiety over Admiral Gregory Quinn and Commander Dexter Remmick coming aboard to investigate the Enterprise crew. In context it just looks like he's perturbed about the crew being accused of something they haven't done, but with the broader picture of how Riker had been harboring guilt over his role in the Pegasus affair all those years, maybe he was really afraid that his dirty little secret had been uncovered? Adds a little frisson to those scenes.

Data's rank pips are wrong in 'All Good Things'. Picard addresses him as "Commander Data" which is absolutely right, but Data is wearing Lieutenant (jg) pips. He was never anything other than a Lieutenant Commander throughout the entire run of TNG. Ironically stood next to Chief O'Brien wearing ensign's pips, and we all know it took the creators ages to give O'Brien an actual rank/title.

The last thing I noticed in TNG was geordi and Guinan's conversation in Booby Trap about a bald man saving Guinan's life and then we saw it in Times Arrow. When I do a rewatch for TNG's 30th anniversary I hope to find others.

The changes to Micheal Dorn's prosthetics as the seasons go on - he goes from having a head like a bulb to a much more proportioned look. This may have been more obvious for most people, but the change was so gradual that on my first time watching I never noticed the change. My boyfriend recently started the series and my first reaction to Encounter at Farpoint was "Holy crap look at Worf's head!"

I'm pretty sure Dorn's prosthetic was the same the last six years. The one he had during season one was stolen. I was more jarred by the ridges he had during his time on DS9.

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I don't know about that. Clearly they had a set mold from 2-6, like you say, but I think they made alterations on that thing, especially around the nose
It really looks like they scaled back the topmost ridge over the years too

Edit: Actually his seasons on DS9 look quite similar to his final one on TNG

Cut to "Star Trek: Generations" where Picard and Riker are rummaging through the rubble. Picard finds that priceless historical artifact from his dead friend. He looks at it, then just puts it down real fast like it's a worthless piece of crap so he can get the really important thing: an old book from his ready room. Now, you can argue the book is old and certainly a historial artifact Picard would want to save and I certainly wouldn't disagree, but he beams out with only the book.

Fuck the priceless artifact from his dead friend. Guess he got over that initial excitment about it in less than a year.

^ I noticed that right off. I can only accept it if he found it was damaged in the crash. In the absence of proof otherwise, I'll just assume it was, even though that's hardly a reason to just leave it. Still just another thing to be insulted by in the TNG movies

Edit: Memory Alpha seems to offer no canon evidence of a ban by the time this episode came out. But the article suggested the ban only applied to official-sanctioned projects (I know...shaky ground). The manner they learned about the program there seem to suggest they were doing it in secret.

I didn't notice it either until it was pointed out. But then again, I never once examined characer eyes colors except taking note of Data's weird very obvious yellow color.

Plus there was, as already pointed out, analoge TV braodcasts, lower quality pictures, VHS tapes, TV's that weren't large wall falt screens -- it's just not something I would even have been sure of even if I was looking.

A few years ago, I was watching or reading some interview with a writer or producer on "American Dad", and they commented on how they questioned casting Patrick Stewart as the head of the CIA, due to his British accent. But then they realized that if Patrick Stewart could convincingly portray a man from France named Jean Luc Picard with that accent, he could sell this too.

And I realized I had never once thought of the discrepancy before! It's true, Patrick Stewart's performance just sells it so completely that he somehow makes perfect sense as a Frenchman or an American CIA official, I just didn't question it. He's an even better actor than I thought!